That's Cooking!

A cold, foggy day out there, but I’ve got my black-eyed peas, my rice, my greens and my cornmeal. Which means I’ll be set for making Hoppin’ John, greens, and cornbread, for good luck and money (cornbread for gold, greens for folding money) on New Year’s Day. Now, I just need to decide if I’m going the ham-hock route for the hoppin’ john (always tastier, although smoked paprika–Spanish pimenton–works too), and pick up some more garlic & lemon for the greens (since I like them quickly steamed and then mixed with sauteed garlic and lemon juice in the California way, not boiled-to-khaki as traditionally they would be in the South) plus buttermilk for the cornbread.

Such are my Southern roots that I can’t remember a New Year’s Day where I didn’t have black-eyed peas and cornbread. Maybe not in Italy, where the New Year’s foods were lentils and zampone (a whole stuffed pig’s foot) or a particular kind of fat sausage. I do remember going to the Carrefour on New Year’s Eve day and coming home with a pannetone the size of a football helmet for 1 euro. We rang in the New Year in Bologna’s main square, crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with every inhabitant in the city as prosecco bottle missiles rained overhead. In the morning, we made coffee and pannetone French toast–the perfect way to start anew.

I love taking a long walk on New Year’s Day–I remember E. and I walking all over the city one chilly green January 1, cresting Randall Rock and running into friends old and new all along the way.

Out with the old, in with the new. Leave the regrets behind and face the challenges with glee.

I take it most of you are familiar now with “The Wrestler,” the sensational new movie from Darren Aronofsky and starring the irascible Mickey Rourke?

What many of you might not know is that many of the characters who show up frequently on this blog had a hand in making the movie. First and foremost is my friend Mark, Diana’s betrothed; remember the engagement dinner I cooked for them? And our trip to Rhode Island? Well Mark co-produced “The Wrestler.” Many of our conversations over the past year were conversations about all the behind-the-scenes shenanigans that went on making the movie. When we talked about it, we never knew it would be this big; and now it’s huge. And I’m very proud of Mark: we saw the movie with him on opening night, and it really blew me away. We applauded when his name showed up in the credits.

We also applauded for our friend Krisse, who you may remember as our favorite Cape Cod cook and dinner party hostess. She did the opening credits for the movie as well as the video game imagery. She recently did an interview with The L.A. Times about her work and they rightfully praised her for summarizing the life of Randy “The Ram” in less than two minutes. More on that article in a bit.

Finally, we applauded our friend Rena who worked in the costume department on the movie. Remember when Rena stayed with us last winter and made us dinner? Well she was here working on “The Wrestler.” We had Marisa Tomei’s boots drying in our bathroom and Mickey Rourke’s underwear draped over our dining room chairs (ok, that’s an exaggeration; but we did see lots of plastic bags full of leftover costume stuff!) Recently, I saw Rena in Washington State and she made awesome savory tarts with figs, onions and blue cheese. This is her with her dad:

Now, back to that Krisse article. In the article it talks about the collage Krisse created of articles and fliers about Randy “The Ram” that opens the movie. It says: “For the fliers, she included names of friends of loved ones and then ‘wrestlerized’ them.”

Loyal readers, would you believe that at one point she had “Adam ‘The Amateur’ Roberts” in there? Because she did! And guess who made her take it out? Mark! He said “The Amateur” didn’t sound like a real wrestling name.

I’d have to agree with him, but wouldn’t it have been cool to see your favorite food blogger in one of the most notable movies of the year? Still; I’ve got love for “The Wrestler.” If you haven’t seen it, please do; and cheer when you recognize the names of Amateur Gourmet friends in the credits.

When it comes to gift-giving, it’s good to have a thing. Those without a thing are hard to buy gifts for: you choose between scarves and candles and ponder the merits of fuchsia vs. chartreuse or hyacinth vs. gardenia. But when someone has a thing, you just get them something that fits their thing. Like shopping for Bono or Michael Jordan or Sigfried & Roy–you buy them music, basketballs and magic trick sets, of course; and everyone’s happy. And those that have a thing can buy stuff for other people based on their own thing: like Bono can make you a mix tape, Michael Jordan can give you Air Jordans, and Sigfried & Roy can give you a white tiger. Having a thing is awesome.

Naturally, since food is my thing, buying gifts for me is easy (at least I think it is.) This year, on Christmas morning with Craig’s family, I received many awesome things that fit my thing. Like the big 80 pound book you see at the top of this post: that’s “A Day at El Bulli” and it was Craig’s big gift to me in anticipation of our big meal there this summer.

Craig’s parents bought me another thing that fits my thing (and a thing I’d casually mentioned to Craig that I’d wanted): “A Platter of Figs” by David Tanis.

This is a gorgeous book, full of good ideas and great recipes and gorgeous photos by Christopher Hirsheimer. It’s organized by season, which is the best way to organize a cookbook, in my opinion; and the text is witty and opinionated. Already I’m struggling to figure out which to make first: the squid-ink infused paella or the pork stew with chiles? Stay tuned for the answer.

Finally, my thing served me well in my stocking: I got an oven mitt (which I needed!), an Oxo measuring cup which lets you see what you’re measuring from above, Gourmet champagne mustard, and a shot glass that says, “I caught crabs in Bellingham, Washington.” Which, as you all know, is true.

As far as my thing determining what I got other people, again: having a thing made that easy. I did really good shopping at Fishs Eddy, the dinnerware store where I got my quirky, idiosyncratic plates. First, I got Craig’s mom an awesome Brooklyn serving dish so that as she eats cheese and other snacks, she can think of us over here in Brooklyn at the corner of her plate:

Here’s the plate put to use with a triple cream brie which we enjoyed later that night:

It was Craig’s sister Kristin, though, who fared the best, I think, with my favoritest gift I gifted this Christmas: Heroes of the Torah drinking glasses!

Yes, each glass features a different famous rabbi with their name and picture engraved into the glass. What would these rabbis think to be gifted to a non-Jew on Christmas? “Oy vey!” probably, but we don’t have to tell them, do we?

For Craig’s dad Steve, a coffee lover, I got him a bag of espresso beans and a mug from Joe The Art of Coffee.

And thus my thing became everybody else’s thing this Christmas, though for Craig I kept my thing out of it because for the past three years he’s been dreaming of the day he’d get to frame his vintage Disneyland posters which he’s had for years and years. That’s why we have white walls in our bedroom: we’ve been waiting to get those posters framed. So, when he was gone a day before me, I dropped the posters off at Brooklyn Frameworks where they’re getting framed right now. Craig was very happy indeed; and now we won’t have white walls, we’ll have vintage Disneyland posters framed all around us.

I could end the post here, but my thing found its way into a gift for a very different sort of creature the day before I returned to New York. We stayed that last night with Craig’s friends David & Celia and they were housesitting their friends’ boa constrictor. What do you get your friend’s boa constrictor for Christmas? A gourmet rodent, of course!

Sure, it’s not “A Day at El Bulli” or “A Platter of Figs” but look at the smile on this boa constrictor’s face:

It’s enough to warm the cockles of your heart, even four days after Christmas. Hope your thing was represented well this Christmas/Hanukkah; and if you don’t have a thing, I hope you enjoyed your candles or scarves. Fuchsia looks lovely on you.

And while we’re talking winter soup, here’s another one: Chestnut Soup! Inspired by the smooth-as-velvet, froth-topped bisque from NYC’s Cafe Sabarsky, and adapted from a NYT recipe by Mark Bittman, this is very easy and tastes much richer and more luxurious than its simple ingredients would lead you to believe.

12 or 15 fresh whole chestnuts, x’d with a sharp knife on the round side, roasted at 325F until the meat is tender and the skin dries out and curls back, then peeled while still warm [or 12-15 peeled whole vacuum-packed or jarred chestnuts]
2 tbsp butter
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
1 branch thyme
4 or 5 sprigs of parsley, minced
1/2 cup dry sherry or madiera
3 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp creme fraiche
4 or 5 crimini mushroom caps, sliced and sauteed in butter until tender and browned

Melt butter in a saucepan. Saute onion, garlic, carrot, and parsnip, stirring, until tender. Add chestnuts and sherry, and cook, stirring, over low heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Add herbs and chicken broth, a little salt (depending on the saltiness of the broth) and simmer gently for 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then puree in a blender. Taste for seasoning, adding more sherry as needed. Return to the pan and warm gently. Top with a spoonful of creme fraiche and a few slices of mushroom.

This went very nicely with a green-and-pink salad from the mystery box: crunchy little gem lettuces, shredded radicchio, and sliced watermelon radishes, in an apple-and-mustard dressing of olive oil, cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, and a little rosemary-apple compote.

I keep a few types of dried seaweed in my pantry. There are long stretches of times I forget I have it, followed by weeks where I use it in meal after meal. Sometimes I toast and crumble it as a garnish or seasoning, other times I chop and add it to soups. This time around I took a good amount of toasted wild nori and used it alongside cilantro, tofu, and plenty of wild rice. I should mention, the dressing for this salad isn’t shy - assertive notes of sesame, ginger, cayenne pepper and soy sauce work their way into the wild rice and tofu. It’s uber-flavorful, and the kind of substantial all-in-one salad I like to bring to parties and potlucks (and eat any leftovers for lunch). I took this to our neighborhood holiday block-party.

For those of you who don’t use seaweed in your cooking much, give it a go. Not only is it interesting to explore the different flavors and textures across the spectrum, they are packed with minerals and anti-oxidents as well. Look for it at local farmer’s markets (if you are coastal), I’ve seen a range at Whole Foods Markets, as well as other natural foods sources. You’ll often find other ideas and recipes on the seaweed packages (and on corresponding websites). I most often use nori, wakame, and kombu - all quite mild flavored. I tend to stay clear of the ones that have a fishy flavor - i.e. hijiki is a bit strong for my tastes, and are some of the sea lettuces I’ve tried. I’m always trying to think of new ways to work seaweed into my cooking, so if you have any tried-and-true favorite ideas, please, by all means, respond in the comments.

Continue reading Wild Seaweed Salad…